Forbidden Love (IronStrange)

2.8

Early fall, The Year Of Our Lord 1628
Stark Castle, Stark Lordship, Isle Of Stone, a province of King Edward I
Stephen

It's been a few weeks since Tony asked me to court him. It's really been wonderful, getting to be by his side all the time and learning about humans along the way. This month, he says, is the harvest festival and that we will be attending. Life is as well as could be expected.

I wake up at perhaps the fourth hour to soft crying. I sit up, blinking at Tony in the darkness. The heavy curtains over the windows make it practically impossible to see what's going on, but I can tell he's having some sort of nightmare. I don't know what to do, so I shake him, trying to get him awake.

"Tony. Tony. You're not there anymore. You're here, with me. Wake up, Tony. It's okay. Wake up." He shifts with a scared whine and I shake him as hard as I can, forcing him awake. He shrieks, practically flinging himself off the bed. I lean over to him, holding out my hand as his breathing evens out.

"I'm sorry Stephen, I thought you were the vampire that killed my mother for a second." Tony shakes his head as he sits up and lays back down next to me.

"It's okay, don't apologize. I know I look like my brother, I've been told that a lot before." I freeze as soon as I say the words, instinctively touching my locket. Wrong thing. Oh, Lai, wrong thing.

Now he knows, oh he knows. Everything I was trying to avoid is chasing me down. Lai help me. Oh no.

"Stephen... is there something you need to tell me?" Tony asks, a faint tremor in his voice. That's all it takes to make me burst into tears.

"The... the vampire that killed your mother... he's my brother. Tony, I'm so sorry! I should have told you from the first, but I didn't want you or Victor to get hurt! Please, look at it from my view!" I'm a mess, shaking and crying. On the other hand, Tony's face is a mask. I can't tell anything he's thinking.

"Oh, Stephen. Give me a second, alright?" He looks down, brows furrowed. I sigh, realizing I need to warn Victor that Tony knows.

"I understand... I'll just... go." I shift into my bat form and fly out of the window, flapping quickly under the cold, unforgiving moonlight. I have to warn Victor.

Tony

I can understand why Stephen didn't tell me, but I now know how to claim the weregild for my mother's death. There's really only one way. I know Stephen knows it, I know it will hurt him, but I have to. I walk down the stairs to where Natasha is sitting in the study.

"Get me Steve, Rhodey, yourself, Thor and eleven others. We're hunting down the vampire that killed my mother."